Revolution at the London Library

The Stalinists have taken over the London Library

Paul Barker

07 November 2007

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High drama at the AGM of a literary institution

The ‘pro’ members called on the ‘antis’ to bite the bullet, face the future and such-like managerial shibboleths. As the evening drew on, exhaustion set in; the pro side won in a show of hands — perhaps 150 to 100. ‘Reject’, of course, sounded much fiercer than ‘refer back’. Without actually saying, ‘We wuz robbed,’ I also share a fellow member’s suspicion that a silent majority of supporters were asked to come in (one was heard saying, ‘This is a make-or-break meeting’) and vote accordingly. It was striking, afterwards, how many present and past trustees came across to say they didn’t, personally, think this was how it should have been done. When the highly regarded art historian Jules Lubbock went up to Legg afterwards, to complain about the lack of collegiality, the response — de haut en bas — was ‘Who are you?’

I went away sadly into the night to catch my bus, passing the portraits of such London Library eminences as Leslie Stephen and T.S. Eliot on my way out. I think I was meant to feel like an enemy of the people. I felt more like a member of the Tiers Etat at an early stage in the run-up to revolution, faced with an apparatchik of the ancien régime. While I ponder whether to let my membership lapse, I shall write — as I know others will — to suggest to Tom Stoppard, as president of the library, that he mounts a review of the library’s outdatedly centralist governance. And I only hope that the loss of membership, and of spirit, won’t be as great as I feel it is almost sure to be.

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Margaret Gaskin

November 11th, 2007 3:06pm Report this comment

As a member of the Library who swallowed the increase but didn't attend the meeting, can I thank all those who did for putting up a fight –not against higher prices, which may be inevitable, but against an apparently high-handed attitude that does indeed seem to go against everything I have ever felt about this great institution. The committee may feel they have been preaching to the choir for years now and this sudden increase has at least stirred members from their desks. Well, clearly, all members who care about the institution must stir their stumps and be prepared to give more (in time and commitment) in return for their great inheritance to ensure that a genuine democracy of intellect prevails. We none of us created the London Library, but we should be ashamed to feel that we stood by while its spirit, if not its substance, was destroyed.

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